The Runes Master
by TeaGirlDays
Summary: Gray and Juvia go on a mission together: their enemy is a Rune Mage, who is apparently abusing his power. It looks like a relatively simple mission for strong mages like them, but they will be forced to face an unforeseen obstacle: their true feelings and dreams.
1. The Runes Master

**Chapter 1 - The Runes Master**

It was a rainy day in Magnolia. However, the guild of mages, Fairy Tail, was noisy and messy as usual.  
Natsu and Gray had just finished one of their pointless fights, and while Natsu headed to the exit with Happy and Lucy to start a mission, Gray collapsed on a bench. "I'm gonna kill that idiot one day..." he muttered. Despite his bad mood, he sensed an even heavier depression aura coming from his left. Sat on the same bench as him, Juvia was staring at the table in front of her, emotionless.  
Gray looked at her for a while, waiting for her to notice his presence as she usually did. But nothing happened. _Well, this is new._ he thought to himself, a bit startled.  
"Hello? Juvia, are you there?"  
His voice didn't seem to reach her. Juvia's only reaction was getting her eyes more and more filled with tears. Which worried Gray a little bit, as he began to think he was the reason of her sadness. He had known about her feelings for a long time, but he still wasn't able to face them. He couldn't even state what he himself felt. Maybe that situation had finally overwhelmed Juvia, and she had decided to forget him once and for all and pretend he didn't exist.  
All these thoughts ran through the ice mage's mind, making him more and more uncomfortable. Then, a gentle voice calling his name distracted him.  
"Gray... come here". It was Mirajane, who called him to the counter with a little gesture and her usual smile.  
Confused, he stood up and went to her. "You know what happened to Juvia? I mean... She looks awkward." he whispered, glancing at the water mage.  
With a little sigh, Mira explained: "It seems that Juvia's money was all stolen last night, when she was out for a mission. And also some of her precious handmade dolls disappeared... She doesn't have the money to pay the rent for Fairy Hills, and she doesn't even seem to be in the mood to work to gain some..."  
Gray's look was now puzzled. Then he couldn't help but feel relieved. "Oh! I see... That's all! It's just a theft!" Hearing those words, Juvia hit her head on the table and began to cry like a baby; Gray felt incredibly stupid for his words. "Ah! Uhm, no, I mean... that's bad... Damn it!" _Why am I so relieved?!_  
Mira smiled again, and asked for Gray's attention again. "Listen here, Gray..." she whispered. "I'm pretty sure she'll go on a mission if you ask her to. Or, even better, why don't you go along with her?" Gray kept silent for a while. He knew when Mira made that kind of suggestions, with that satisfied smile on her face, there was no way to decline the offer. But that didn't change the fact that he still felt uncomfortable with Juvia's obsession for him...  
_Oh, come on, it's not like it's the first time we'd go out on a mission together! And she's in big trouble, if I can be the one to help my nakama I have to do it._  
"Well... I don't have anything else to do..." he sighed.  
"Oh, that's wonderful! You heard, Juvia? Gray wants to go on a mission with you!" Mira raised her voice drastically, and immediately caught Juvia's attention. The blue-haired girl lifted her head and looked at Gray, her eyes were filled with happiness and hope. "R-Really, Gray-sama?!"  
With a little nervous smile, Gray looked back at her and replied: "Eh... sure! Let's go."

A few minutes later, the two were on their way. The rain had stopped, and Gray realized it was probably because of Juvia's bad mood. Now, however, there was no trace of her depression at all.  
"So, what's the mission Mira suggested for us?" she asked, smiling cheerfully.  
Gray took out the paper which had the details of the mission. "There's this guy, 'The Runes Master', who seems to be playing a bit too much with his magic. He's built a big house, which is known as 'Dream Room', where people can go to make their dreams come true. At least, this is what it claims..." The boy stopped talking as he noticed Juvia's ecstatic face. He just could read what was passing through her mind. _Dreams come true... Come true..._  
"Don't get so easily distracted! That's the trap!" Gray scolded her. "A lot of people are stuck in there because of the traps he's set everywhere inside the house. It seems that it's a kind of 'game', where you have to go through some obstacles to reach the end and make your dream come true. But they just can't get out of there, because his rules are just too weird and hard, if not impossible, to be respected."  
"Rules? Does that mean that... Uhm, this person uses the same magic as Fried-san?" Juvia asked, finally back to herself. "It seems so. The paper also says that the rules don't involve violence or harming, but they're hard enough to keep people trapped inside. We'll have to be careful."  
"Well, at least we won't have to fight each other or something like that." Juvia sighed with relief, thinking back at the Fairy Tail Battle created by Laxus, back when he wanted to take Master's place no matter what.  
"We're gonna make it" Gray said raising his fist. "And look! The reward is enough for you to pay the rent for, what, 3 months? Four?" he added with a smile. Juvia took a look at the paper, and murmured "M-Maybe just a month or two...". Gray shook his head. "You know, I'm not going to take half of the reward, I leave it all for you. It's you who's in need of money, I'm here just to help." After saying that, he patted her on the back and gave her a smile of encouragement. Juvia blushed and smiled back, looking at him with the sweetest eyes ever. "T-Thank you very much, Gray-sama!" For some reason he felt embarrassed, and put his hands in his pockets while looking around. "No problem really..."  
Juvia didn't stop thanking him all along the way to the Dream Room.


	2. Dreams and panties

**Chapter 2 - Dreams and panties**

"Enough now, we're here" Gray said, interrupting Juvia's flood of words of happiness and thankfulness. In front of them there was an incredibly big house. The style was extremely minimalist, four walls, an entrance door and a few windows, a normal gable roof. A big writing colored the front wall:

DREAM ROOM: GET IN AND MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE!

"Tsk, that's just ridiculous. How could people actually fall for something like this?" Gray said while giving the building a suspicious look. But the answer was right next to him. "Dreams come true... Let's get in, Gray-sama!" Juvia uttered with dreamy eyes. The dark-haired mage sighed. "You're hopeless..."  
As there was no other easy entrance, the two went for the main door. "We have to be careful and see how this thing works..." He didn't even finish his sentence. As his hand touched the door, a magical barrier showed up in front of them. "Gray-sama!" "Damn it! Not even inside yet?!"  
Letters started to appear on the invisible magical wall. They said 'You have to sincerely declare you have a dream, to pass this barrier'.  
"What? Is that all? Sounds kinda stupid..." Gray said, while Juvia didn't lose time and passionately whispered "Juvia does have a dream...". After that, she was able to open the door and get in. "Come on, Gray-sama, we can't stop already!" she encouraged him, as she saw his sarcastic expression. "We're not stopping, in fact. Well... I have a... dream...?" He took a step forward but his feet hit the magic barrier. "Oh, come on! I have a dream! I do have a dream!" No matter how many times he said it, he couldn't get in. He felt embarrassed and nervous.  
"Listen Juvia, come back and let's look for another entrance. Maybe one of the windows. We could even be able to find this Runes Master without falling in every single one of his stupid traps." "Sure" she replied, trying to hide the little smile on her face seeing her beloved Gray troubled by having to say such a simple thing.  
Both outside again, they looked up at the windows. There were three on that facade, and they were at three, four meters from the ground. Juvia used one of her water attacks to break one of the windows, then said: "Help Juvia reach it, Gray-sama." "Y-Yeah." he replied, while lifting her up. She grabbed the window sill with her hands and Gray started pushing her up from her feet. Then, she suddenly screamed: she was trapped again! An invisible box surrounded her, leaving the water mage on her knees in mid-air, with only the window sill as handhold, in case the magic barrier had disappeared.  
"Damn, there's one even there! What does it say?" Gray shouted. Juvia, unable to make wide moves or change her position, read in front of her: "It says... Bring your body t... b-body temperature, uhm, at least 3 degrees higher... What?" She felt confused, and didn't really understood what the rule meant. "What's the point of this? Well, whatever, you can change your water's temperature, can't you? Just do it." Gray replied, while realizing that Juvia was right above his head, on her knees, and was wearing her usual clothes. That means, she had a skirt on, and he could catch a glimpse of her underwear.  
"Uhm, but here it says 'no magic allowed'..."  
Gray groaned. "Can't you think of anything else, Gray-sama? Juvia's really uncomfortable here... Juvia can't think straight..." she moaned. Gray let out a sigh, and couldn't help but blush while saying: "Well, this'll have to work... Juvia... Uhm, they're black, right?" "Uh, w-what?" she asked, starting to tremble. He became more and more red. "Your... panties. I can see them from here."  
Despite the great embarrassment of both, that worked perfectly. "W-WHAT?!" Juvia screamed, upset, and started sweating and blushing as she covered herself with both hands. In that very moment, the magic barrier disappeared and the girl fell down, right in Gray's arms.  
"Er... that really worked, didn't it?" Gray said, trying to keep a straight face while her companion was covering her face burning with shame, unable to look at him.  
He helped Juvia to get her feet back on the ground, and said: "Maybe the main entrance isn't that bad after all... I'll get in too somehow." "O... okay..." she replied, trying to get over her embarrassment.

A few minutes later...

"Yes! You did it, Gray-sama! Well done!" Juvia cheered as Gray finally stepped into the house. He was nervous again, because he had to think deeply about the fact that he had a dream and say it loud, in front of Juvia. _Good thing I didn't have to say what my dream is... I chose one of the most stupid things that came to my mind._


	3. Say it

**Chapter 3 - Say it**

They finally were able to see the inside of that enormous house. They were in a small corridor, with only one way to go. It looked suspicious, but they had no other choice. "Gray-sama... It really seems that we'll have to pass all of the traps to get to the Runes Master..." "Don't make me think about that" he pouted.  
When they arrived at the end of the corridor, a wider space showed up. It was an empty room, except for some people screaming and calling for help scattered all over the place. At the deep end of the room, there was a door. That was clearly the only way to reach to the following 'level' of the game. "Look... All these people are stuck here because of the magic traps!" Juvia said. "Yeah" Gray nodded. "And there are probably more, over that door." "Juvia wonders... if we're able to free them all, one after the other... Or if it's quicker to pass through the other traps and bring the runes mage down."  
Gray looked around: there were many people, and there was no guarantee that they would get out of the house without falling in other traps. The two mages couldn't take care of all of them, after all...  
"Other people! Yes! Hey, you! Please, help me! I need someone else to get out of here!" a boy near them shouted. They looked at him: he seemed to be more or less their age, he had long brown hair and was wearing glasses. Gray approached him, but without getting inside the magic barrier. "What does your rule say?" "It just says 'Hug to be free'! But I'm here alone, I can't hug myself to get out!" the guy uttered desperately. Gray shrank as he heard those words. He had some unpleasant memories of a certain guy he had fought, who had seemed to enjoy a bit too much every physical contact with him, and was now reluctant to hug another man.  
Juvia noticed his awkwardness, so she took a step forward. "Okay then... Juvia will help you." She was reluctant as well, but she was there to help people out and that boy only needed a hug to be free, so there was no reason not to do it.  
"Thank you! Thanks a lot!" the long-haired guy seemed very happy to hug Juvia. Gray couldn't help but wonder if he was happy because he could finally be free, or because of hugging such a beauty. _What am I thinking of? He's probably been here for an awful lot of time, it's obvious that he's happy to get out of here..._ But the ice mage still felt an uncomfortable feeling, seeing the boy's arms around Juvia's waist, though he couldn't explain, or admit, what it was.  
The magic barrier soon disappeared, and he sharply said: "Alright, you're free now. Get out of here, the trap on the door is not there anymore." "Thank you a lot, Miss! I wish I could do something for you too!" The boy was way too excited, Gray thought. Juvia shyly replied: "D-Don't worry." "Yeah, as I said, get out of here now, we have an idiotic mage's butt to kick." Gray seemed to be in a kind of bad mood.  
"What are you thinking, Gray-sama? Is something bothering you?" Juvia asked. The boy hurriedly shook his head. "Nah, it's just... this whole thing, it's crazy. Let's go on. I think we should head over to that door, and defeat the mage behind all of this. This way, all these people will be free at once, and we'll lose less time." "Alright."  
A few steps, and Juvia was caught again. What's more, this time she found herself capsized and floating in the air! "Waahh! No, not Juvia's skirt again!" she screamed desperately, trying to keep her skirt down. Or up. "C-Calm down, Juvia! What's with this trap? What are the rules?" Gray tried to keep cool and not to look at her exposed skin, though the whole scene was kind of funny.  
"It's hard to read like this! Wait... 'You're trapped and... capsized... until you say a... word you... you have never pro... pronounced before.'" The poor girl was wriggling in the air in an attempt to get back to normal, but it was useless. Gray was beginning to struggle not to giggle at that weird situation. "Well then... say something you've never said! It can't be difficult."  
"Juvia... Juvia doesn't know... and this position is making Juvia sick!" Juvia was almost crying with frustration and embarrassment. Why did she have to fall into such a humiliating trap, in front of Gray-sama?!  
"Try to swear! I've never heard you swearing since I met you." Gray suggested. "Not gonna work..." she replied shyly. _She swears?! Never mind, that's not important now._ "Then... I don't know, say something stupid! Like that flame-head idiotic 'I'm all fired up!' thing!"  
"Er... I-I'm all fired up...?" Nothing happened. Gray suggested: "Try someone else's typical words! You can't have said all of them. Lucy's?"  
"Open, a door to the... to the treasure vase palace! Aquarius!..."  
"Erza's?"  
"Requip, Heaven's Wheel Armor...!"  
"Uhm, Cana's?"  
"Sake, please!"  
"What about Happy's?"  
"Aye! Wait a sec, are you having fun there, Gray-sama?! And when did you take off your shirt?!"  
Gray was laughing out loud now, he couldn't resist anymore. He felt sorry for Juvia, but at the same time it was just too funny to keep a straight face. He was so amused that he didn't realize he had started stripping too.  
"Hahaha! I'm sorry! But... Why isn't it working? You can't have said those things before!" he said while putting his shirt on again.  
"Well, here it says it has to be a word, not a phrase... Juvia clearly has already said every single word of those before!" Juvia replied, a bit nervous realizing she'd been losing time.  
Gray stopped laughing, and said: "I see... Then try to think of something you've never wanted to say, or you've always avoided, I don't know. It's up to you."  
Juvia's mind immediately turned to Gray and everything she'd always wanted to tell him, and she started blushing again. She wished she could move her hands to cover her face, but in that moment it was more important to cover her nether regions.  
_Calm down! Juvia has obviously said 'love' before, so it's useless now!_ she thought to herself. _What's something that Juvia has never had the courage to say?..._ The water mage was thinking hard, and didn't realize she was staring at what was right in front of her. That was, as she was upside-down, Gray's legs and groin.  
"Aahhh! No, no no! Juvia's embarrassed!" she screamed, closing her eyes and feeling the heat on her cheeks. Gray obviously didn't get what was going on in her companion's mind. "What? Did you find something? Come on, there's no time for shame now, we've got to hurry and finish this mission!"  
"Juvia can't..." she pouted.  
"Just say it!"  
The girl just couldn't ignore an order by Gray.  
"F-Fine! Juvia will say it! But don't you think that Juvia was staring at Gray-sama's crotch or-"  
She suddenly fell on the ground, with a loud thud. "Ouch..."  
The magic barrier had disappeared. Gray helped her stand up, and with a smirk on his face he said: "I've just witnessed Juvia's first time saying 'crotch'..."  
She looked at him with a desperate face. "S-Stop it, Gray-sama! It's not funny..." He repressed another laugh, and they began walking again, to the door.


	4. The laughter of freedom

**Chapter 4 - The laughter of freedom**

The people around them were all asking for help, they didn't stop even when the two mages fell into traps, and it was starting to get on Gray's nerves. Then he raised his voice and stated: "Everyone, shut up! We came here to help you, but we can't free you one after the other! Just be a little more patient and wait for us to knock that Runes Master down, and then you'll all be able to get out!"  
A high-pitch voice crying near them caught their attention. It was a kid, not more than 5 years old. There was a young woman with him too, probably his mother. "Gray-sama..." Juvia was touched by such a little boy trapped in there. "Well..." Gray wasn't sure what to do. But the two had already noticed them, so they couldn't just ignore them and go over. "How did you get here?! And what's your trap?" Gray asked, trying to be gentle. The woman, poorly dressed, tried to explain: "My son's father abandoned us, and I thought that this place could solve our problems...!" She was starting to cry too. "I'm poor, I can't even read!"  
The two Fairy Tail mages were touched, and silently agreed that they could free those two immediately. Gray stepped inside the magic barrier. "First of all, this is just a big scam. Once this barrier is gone, get out of this house going that way" and he pointed at the path he and Juvia had crossed from the corridor to there. "We can tell it's safe now. And after that, you can wait for us outside the building, we'll try and help you." He gave the woman a smile, trying to cheer her up.  
"Yes, everything is going to be fine!" Juvia added, with her eyes shining with pride as she saw Gray in a kind and gentleman hero-mode.  
"Thanks... Thank you, thank you very much! We'll do as you say!" the woman smiled back, a shine of hope in her eyes.  
"No problem" Gray said. "Well then, what does this barrier say...? 'Genuinely enjoy yourself and you'll be free'. What? Enjoy yourself?!"

Gray and Juvia spent the following 5 minutes telling the young woman stories about Fairy Tail, thinking that there were just too many funny episodes not to laugh at at least one of them. But the woman, who was probably a bit bothered by the whole situation and the hours she had spent in that place, only giggled a bit. "I'm sorry, you're really amusing me... but it's hard to laugh in a situation like this...!" she apologized. "Don't worry, I understand... When I got in here I was already nervous!" Gray replied. "And then I burst into laughter when..." He looked at Juvia. "... When she got caught by a trap which capsized her and she had to say a word she'd never said before!" Juvia blushed hearing those words, and began feeling nervous again about what had happened. "We didn't see that..." the woman thought aloud.  
Gray told the whole episode, imitating himself the other members of the guild he had previously suggested to Juvia (which kind of amused the water mage too), and the woman seemed to be starting to enjoy herself a little more genuinely. In the end, she asked smiling: "But which was the word she'd never pronounced, then?" Juvia froze with her eyes wide open, while Gray approached the woman and whispered 'that word' in her ear.  
For some reason, the young woman found it extremely funny. She burst into laughter, and wasn't almost able to stop. Obviously, she could get over the barrier, but she waited for her son, who didn't quite understand what was so funny. "I'm sorry, young lady, I didn't want to laugh at you, really..." she said to Juvia, joining her hands in sign of apology. "N-No problem..." Juvia replied, still feeling a bit nervous. "Look, now you'll have a... sort of revenge." she murmured, so that only the blue-haired girl could hear her.  
"Mister, now there's only my son missing, and I know a way he's surely going to be happy!... If it doesn't bother you..." "No problem, just tell me." Gray replied, confident.  
"Before his father abandoned us, he loved to play with him. He used to raise him in the air and sing..." she explained, acting a bit embarrassed. "Oh, well..." Gray wasn't used to handle little kids, but that didn't seem so difficult after all.  
He bent on his knees, in front of the young boy, and told him smiling: "Let's play! Pretend I'm... uhm, your dad!..." As he spoke, he realized that was quite awkward for him to say. Especially in front of Juvia... _I wonder what's going on her mind right now..._  
What Juvia saw was, in fact, the best thing she'd ever seen. First of all, Gray saying 'I'm your dad' to a little boy. Then, him lifting the boy up with his strong and protective arms, and singing some childish song while making him 'fly'. And then, the boy smiling and laughing, and Gray smiling back with a trace of emotion in his look.  
The water mage had her mind completely gone when the three of them got out of the trap, which had now disappeared. She was murmuring something by herself... "Let's have children, Gray-sama..."  
The boy pretended he didn't hear her, and asked the woman: "Excuse me, but... how did you make it this far without getting into other traps?" "Oh, I guess we've been lucky... We passed through the door because we weren't alone and another person read the rules for us. And then... we didn't fall into any other traps, until here." she replied with a little careless smile. Her attitude resembled Mirajane's, Gray thought.  
The woman whispered something in Juvia's ear, but Gray didn't notice. He gave her instructions again to get out of there safely, then he came back to Juvia. "Oi, don't lose yourself again! We've almost made it to the door!" "Juvia has a new dream..." she said with a dreamy voice. "D-Don't wanna know about it." Gray replied. _I'm getting used to this kind of scenes, they're just ordinary when I'm with her... But damn, this feels awkward!..._  
Meanwhile, the woman's words were echoing in Juvia's head. _'Your boyfriend's really nice...'_


	5. Switched

**Chapter 5 - Switched**

The two finally managed to reach the door. There, they could see a plate with the words:

YOU DID IT! JUST ONE MORE STEP TILL THE NEXT LEVEL :)

"He even dares to put a smiley there..." Gray snarled. But his voice sounded strange. In fact, he didn't hear his voice, but Juvia's! He turned to her, but he saw himself instead. "What... what's this...?" The 'himself' he saw was looking at his hands and body with a desperate expression on his face. "Gray-sama, why are you...? Why is Juvia inside your body? This... This is NOT RIGHT!" Juvia shouted, completely shocked.  
"W-Wait a second, let's figure this out... Damn, it feels weird having a girl's body! That time Lucy's, now yours..." He realized too late he had talked too much. The four magic walls they were now trapped inside started to freeze: Juvia was getting mad and was releasing the ice magic power without being able to control it. "What... Lucy?! You were inside Lucy's body, Gray-sama?!"  
"No! Not exactly... Don't misunderstand, Juvia! Calm down!" While talking, he realized that if Juvia had lost all control and started to beat him up, he probably wouldn't be able to stop her, as she had a male body and he had a female one. Plus, he didn't know how to use the water magic.  
"Juvia can't lose to Lucy! Lucy is Juvia's love rival!"  
"Ahhh! Why do I always end up in these crazy situations?! And all these clothes are so damn heavy! I can't... take it..."  
They were both losing it. But as she saw Gray about to strip, careless about the fact that he had her body, Juvia immediately forgot about her rage and rushed towards him. It was easy for her to keep him still, by simply holding him with the strong arms she now had. Needless to say, she was excited like she'd never been, though she also felt a bit confused about the body exchange.  
"N-No, Gray-sama! You can't strip with Juvia's body!" "Huh?! Oh, crap! I was stripping again!?" Gray came back to himself. Juvia released him, and blushed as she murmured: "I-It's not like Juvia doesn't like that... But, Gray-sama, Juvia imagined the first time you'd take her clothes off a little bit different..."  
She didn't realize that he wasn't listening to her at all.  
"Alright... then, the writing on this barrier is... 'Feel out of place? Empathize and you can go ahead.' … I swear, I'm going to kick this asshole's face so many times he will never be recognized again!" Gray was definitely starting to hate the Runes Master. Juvia sighed.  
"Empathize... So, that means that Juvia should feel or act the same way as Gray-sama, and viceversa..." she thought aloud. "You're right..." Gray agreed. "Let's concentrate, we can do it." she said with a serious look on her, or better say Gray's, face.  
The ice mage, who now had his companion's appearance, nodded and followed her suggestion.  
_Well then... How can I act like Juvia? I should feel the same way she does about something..._. He blushed. _No, not that! It's just impossible... Something else...?_ His thoughts went back to a few moments earlier, when the girl lost her temper thinking about Lucy as her rival. _Rival, huh? And only thinking about her made her go crazy... It reminds me of... Lyon..._ As he had his childhood comrade's face in his mind, Gray started to seethe with anger. _He's always been acting all cool and supercilious, and giving me that mocking grin... As if everything was to be just like he wanted... And at the Grand Magic Games he reached his higher point! Betting on the Games results and deciding Juvia was the prize! That was just outrageous! I feel like I could still kick his ass a thousand times for that!_ "Damn, I'm definitely kickin' his ass next time I see him! No way he's gonna prove himself better than me!" he finally exploded, releasing the water magic inadvertently.  
That didn't last long anyway. Gray soon got back to himself and realized that the freezing water which had exploded inside the magic trap had been released by him, so he somehow managed to stop it. "Uh... I think I made it..." he said while turning to Juvia. She was completely soaked, but she didn't seem to care about that. Her look was distant, absent. In fact, she was deeply concentrated.  
_Juvia is Gray-sama... Juvia is Gray-sama... Juvia has Gray-sama's body, so Juvia has to use it as Gray-sama would... Gray-sama's... body..._ She lost herself in her thoughts, and unconsciously started to unbutton the shirt.  
Gray was looking at the scene, a little bit shocked. He'd never seen how he looked from the outside while stripping, but he could tell that he was just like what he was seeing: gaze lost in space, laid back attitude, leaning against the wall, carelessly taking off his shirt, his shoes, and his trousers...  
_Wait, isn't she going a bit too far?!_  
She was. Only his boxer shorts were still in place, but that wouldn't last long, as Juvia was definitely daydreaming and wasn't aware of what she was doing. _Just like... I do! That's kind of creepy!_ Gray thought, while rushing towards her to stop her. "E-Enough! Don't go any further, Juvia!" he shouted, grabbing her wrists and pushing them against the wall. Her hands were way too dangerously close to his underwear.  
In that very moment, the two mages both came back to their proper bodies.  
Gray felt the water all over him, his back against the wall and his wrists being strongly held by Juvia. The water mage, from her point of view, was seeing an extremely sexy Gray, in his underwear, completely soaked, and what's more, he was blocked against the wall by her! "Uwahh... This... this is..." She blushed with excitement, staring at him, and wasn't able to move or speak anymore.  
After a few moments, he nervously said: "Uhm, would you mind letting me go? I think we can go on now."


	6. With a little help from my friend

**Chapter 6 - With a little help from my friend**

They opened the door and found themselves in a different place, with a different atmosphere. There was a dim blue light everywhere, and they couldn't see how big the new room was, because it had a unique corridor which curved many times. It looked like a labyrinth, though there was only one way to go. "This looks so suspicious..." Gray commented, nervous. "We can't do anything but go on." Juvia replied. She had got back to herself after the embarrassing scene of a few moments before.  
"I wonder if there's people in this room too..." he said. "Juvia doesn't know, but she can't hear anything similar to the noise there was in the other room." she replied, trying to pay attention to any possible voice or sound. Nothing could be heard.  
As they reached the first corner of the corridor, a magical barrier appeared all around them. "Here we go again... What does it say this time?" Gray groaned. The writing that showed on the invisible magical walls claimed: 'Any person who can stand on his hands for at least 62 seconds, can pass this barrier. No leaning against the magic walls.'  
"Well, this one's easy. But why 62 seconds!? This person is crazy." Gray commented, not noticing Juvia was turning pale. "Stand... on your hands... But Juvia... Juvia can't..." she mumbled, thinking back at the trap which had capsized her in the air. "Sorry, what did you say?" Gray asked carelessly, already in perfect balance on his hands. Juvia exploded, almost crying: "Juvia can't do this! Juvia is wearing a skirt, and what's more, she was already capsized before, and Gray-sama saw her panties earlier! Juvia felt humiliated and doesn't want that anymore!"  
"Oi, calm down now, don't scream and don't start crying! Let me finish this, then I'll help you, okay?" he said, focusing on not losing his balance. The girl sniffled. "H-Help Juvia...?" "Of course... I mean, we have to go ahead, and none of us can be left behind. And this is a very simple thing to do, so don't worry." he reassured her, while checking if he could get out of the trap: the seconds had passed, so he was free to go.  
He got back on his feet, then he shyly began giving instructions: "Okay then... The problem's your skirt, right? But it's quite long, so I can... Uhm, I can help you keep it up... while you stand... on your hands..." He realized how stupid the whole scene would be, while talking. Obviously, Juvia was even more embarrassed than him, though she seemed to like his solution more than mercilessly exposing her underwear again.  
"D-Don't look where you shouldn't..." she warned him (not even too seriously), while preparing for her worst minute and 2 seconds of the day. "Of course not! I would... never..." he replied nervously, but soon realized that he had already done that, more or less. He grabbed the end of her skirt, as she pushed her legs up in the air.  
Juvia soon found out that she also had some balance problems, and started to fear not to make it for a minute. The seconds passed slowly. "It's... hard..." she said with her arms trembling. "Come on, Juvia! You can do it! Just 40 more seconds!" He tried to cheer her up, looking somewhere else. "You know, Gray-sama... Juvia is starting to hate the Runes Master too..." she said nervously. He let out a giggle. "Well then... Let's give our best to reach him, and then we're gonna bring him down! Right?" She smiled back. "Yes! He's going down!" "That's right!"  
Ten seconds left. Juvia got too distracted and started to lose her balance. "Uwaahh... Juvia's falling... Juvia's falling!" "No Juvia, not now! Hold on a little more!" he shouted, feeling more and more awkward for holding her skirt. "5!... 4... 3..." She tilted more and more. "2... 1!..." As the countdown was over, Juvia's legs ended up against Gray's shoulder, and the two mages both fell on the floor. The barrier had disappeared.  
Juvia immediately stood up, completely red and seething with anger and embarrassment. "Gray-sama... let's go kill this person."  
"Heh... sure." he replied with a grin on his face.


	7. Say this sweetly

**Chapter 7 - Say this sweetly**

"Let me go before you, so that I'll be the one to be caught if there are other traps." Gray said, walking ahead of Juvia. "But... Gray-sama, that's..." He stopped and looked back at her, smiling. "Just to make sure there's not anything involving upside-down things, no?" His smile sent the girl on cloud nine.  
Not long till a new trap of runes appeared. As expected, Gray was the one to be caught. "Stop there!" Juvia stopped, very close to the magic wall that surrounded her companion. "What... what's the rule?" she asked, worried seeing Gray's puzzled face. "It's... a tongue-twister..." he replied. Surprised, Juvia stepped into the trap too, concluding it wouldn't be a problem and not wanting to leave it all to Gray. She read the rule, which was the tongue-twister itself:  
'Say this sharply, say this sweetly; say this shortly, say this softly; say this sixteen times in succession.'  
"Wow..." Now, they both had a puzzled look on their faces.

They spent the following 5 minutes discussing how they should take that rule. Gray thought that it was enough to say the tongue-twister without making mistakes, but as he tried it didn't work. "Gray-sama..." He tried to say it more quickly, 16 times in a row. He was panting when he was finished, but he still couldn't get out of the barrier. "Why!? Just WHY? This is a fucking tongue-twister! I haven't made any mistakes! Have I, Juvia?!" "Well..." She had a different idea about how to solve the problem, but she still hadn't got the chance to say it.  
In the end, she raised her voice. "L-Listen, Gray-sama! Juvia thinks you've been doing it wrong from the start! We should do exactly what the tongue-twister says!..." "W-What?" Actually, he feared that the true rule literally was the tongue-twister itself.  
"We should say this phrase four times sharply, four times sweetly, four times shortly and four times softly." she sighed. Remembering how hard it had been for Gray just to pass the very first trap, on the entrance door, she could imagine what was going to happen next.  
Gray started hitting his head against the magic wall with frustration. "Why? Why are these rules so stupid?! How am I supposed to say a damned tongue-twister sweetly!?" Juvia clenched her fists, gathering resolution; then she touched Gray's back to get his attention and said: "Gray-sama helped Juvia earlier, so now Juvia is going to help Gray-sama! We're going to make it!"  
A bit resigned, Gray turned back to her and nodded. "'Kay. … Thank you..." He looked kind of embarrassed, and this made the water mage melt inside.  
"Alright, Gray-sama! We must not make mistakes nor stop while saying the tongue-twister, or it won't work!" she explained. "Okay, but first let's specify how we should say it. I think 'sharply' is pretty clear, it's the usual way you should say a tongue-twister: with no mistakes and no hesitations. Then..." That 'sweetly' worried him a lot. "Gray-sama may not be used to say things sweetly, but..." Juvia started, a bit nervous. "It's not that hard! You have to relax, soften your voice and... and... pretend you're talking to something, someone, that makes you smile with tenderness!" She ended up joining her hands and giving Gray a dreamy look. He was still nervous, he had never done something like that. At least, not on purpose, and this made it even harder to do. "Uhm... I think I got it..." "Y-You should try, then. If you do it wrong in the middle of our attempt, we're going to lose even more time!..." The blue-haired girl felt weird giving orders to her Gray-sama about saying things sweetly, but it actually was the best thing to do.  
"Ah! Uhm... then... something like... 'Say this sharply, say this sweetly'... Damn, it feels so stupid!" he yelled tearing his hair out. "More or less, you were doing it right, Gray-sama!" Juvia encouraged him. Then, she had a flash of inspiration. "That's it! Pretend you're talking to the little boy we met before! Gray-sama's voice sounded so sweet when he was talking like a daddy~" She was gone to dreamland again, but at least she had helped. "Yeah, you're right! I got it right this time!" he said, gaining more resolution.  
"And then, 'shortly' clearly means we have to be quick, and 'softly'... I guess we'll have to lower our voice... Right?" "Yes, Juvia agrees. Let's try!" "No, not try, let's do this!" He smiled, totally self-confident.  
"Ok, let's go in 3, 2, 1..."  
"Say this sharply! Say this sweetly! Say this shortly! Say this softly! Say this sixteen times in succession! Say this..."  
They uttered the tongue-twister in unison, pronouncing all the words very carefully and with a loud voice.  
"Say this sixteen times in succession!" That was the end of the 4th repetition. No mistakes so far. They made a little pause, looked at each other and nodded, serious look on their faces. When they both started with the sweet voice, though, Gray suddenly felt stupid and weird. "Say this sharply, say this sweetly, say... this... oh damn, I can't do it!" "No, Gray-sama! Now we have to do it all again!" He sighed. He kept silent for a while, and Juvia was looking at him worriedly. Then, he said: "... Yeah. I'm sorry. Let's try again..." He had lost a bit of his self-confidence now, but he still was determined to get over that trouble.  
The following attempt seemed to work. Even the 'sweet' part went kind of good. The two mages looked relieved, after making the 8th repetition. But then, the hardest part came. And they hadn't realized it yet.  
"Saythissharplysaythissweetlysaythissoftlysaythissoftly... oh, fuck!" Gray made a mistake, but Juvia tried to go on anyway. She didn't last long though. "... saythissixteentimex-no!" She couldn't help it, she had got distracted by Gray and couldn't keep up longer. They panted. "It's harder than it seems..." he moaned.

Several minutes later, they still hadn't managed to get out of the trap. They were more and more tired, and Gray was on his knees. "It's getting worse and worse! I'm starting to think we can't..." "Don't say that, Gray-sama! We CAN do it, we have to do it! This is not something that can bring you down." She knelt down too, in front of him. He looked up at her eyes, which were full of determination. "We're going to do it once more, and this time is going to be the right one. Okay?" she stated. His look became serious, then he nodded. "Yeah. No mistakes." "Extreme concentration." "Let' go!"  
They said the tongue-twister, without a hesitation, without a blink. They stared at each other's eyes without even thinking about it. The 5th to the 8th repetition went smoothly. Then they pronounced the tongue-twister quickly, almost without breathing, and without any misspelling. Then they took a small breath, lowered their voices and said it 4 more times, calmly.  
It really was their best attempt. The barrier disappeared, after exploding in a shiny and sparkling light saying "Congratulations!". They stayed still for a little bit, almost unconscious of the fact that they made it. Then a big grin showed upon their faces, and as Gray shouted "YES! Finally! Damn, we did it!", Juvia hugged him impulsively. "Yayyy! Well done, Gray-sama!"  
He found that hug kind of comforting, after all the anxiety and pressure he'd been through; but the embarrassment showed up soon, for him as well as for Juvia.  
"Uh, Juvia's sorry! Let's go on..." she murmured shyly. "Y-Yeah..." he replied. As they stood up, he murmured: "Thank you." She didn't reply, but she smiled a bit and blushed.


	8. The last obstacle?

**Chapter 8 - The last obstacle?**

After a couple of bends, the two mages found a person. It was a man, more or less 30 years old, and was stuck in a trap.  
"Hey! You! Oh my gosh, I can't believe someone else has made it this far!" He looked relieved, he probably had been the only one who got to that point. "We're mages." Gray said calmly. "We're here to help." Juvia continued. "Perfect then! This trap lets at least two persons go on, but I'm alone, so I need you two so that we can all proceed." the man explained. "Oh, really? Well then..." The ice mage took a step forward inside the trap, inviting Juvia to follow him.  
The instant they stepped inside the barrier, the rule changed. Now it said: 'Only one body can go through this barrier.' As soon as the man finished reading, he rushed to the barrier to be the one and only to go on. "Oi oi, where you think you're going?" Gray grabbed his shirt from behind, and didn't let him move any further. "We're here to help, haven't you heard? How do you think we can help if you let us behind?" The man refused to listen to reason, and replied eagerly: "Let go of me, boy! First, I don't know for sure if you're mages, and secondly, I made it this far and I want to make my wish come true! And no one can st-WHAT THE...?!"  
Gray wasn't really in the mood to listen to the man's egoistic words, so he used his magic to freeze his feet to the ground. "No time for that. I am a mage indeed, as you see. Now, let US go on." "You bastard! And by the way, you're two people, you can't go together." he replied, kind of happy that the trap would trouble the mages too.  
"That's wrong." Juvia interrupted, taking place beside Gray. "Juvia's body is made of water. Juvia can absorbe Gray-sama's body for a while, and step outside the trap. If Gray-sama is okay with it..." She finished her explanation looking at her companion, asking for his approval. The ice mage looked back at her and smiled with confidence. "That's right! I was thinking about the same plan."  
_Gray-sama was thinking the same thing Juvia was thinking! We were both thinking of Gray-sama getting into Juvia's body... Aaaw..._ Juvia couldn't help herself, that thought was just too much for her. She was blushing and smiling on her own again. Gray, as usual, didn't actually realize what was going on in her mind, and was getting closer to her. "Uhm... Are you ready? Are we going to do it or not?" Those words brought her back, but in an even worse way. "What, Gray-sama? Right now? But... It's just... Juvia... Juvia's not ready..." Her blushing was increasing more and more, she felt fire in her cheeks. She clearly had misunderstood Gray's words. "Why not? We gotta go through that barrier, so that we can kick that Runes Master's ass once and for all!"  
"Oh! Y-Yeah! That's right!... The Runes Master... O-Ok, now Juvia's ready..." Now she knew what he had been talking about the whole time. And she was also a bit disappointed, but it would have been the wrong place and moment anyway.  
She turned her body into water, and Gray stepped inside her. Then, she walked through the barrier, which changed the rule again. Now it had a countdown too, and it said: 'No one can pass this barrier in the next 11.59.57 hours'. Juvia read the new rule and realized that they must have got to the "serious" part of the "game", if it even had such a long countdown for people not to get in all together. She could still see and hear the man, who was yelling at them with rage: "You damned mages! I have to stay here for 12 hours or more! It's all your fault!... And release me from this ice!" "Mister, if you are a bit more patient we'll free you and all the other people in less than 12 hours." the girl replied calmly.  
Then she gasped, and released Gray from her water body. She was almost forgetting him. The boy fell on the floor, coughing. As she knelt down, she said worrily: "Are you ok, Gray-sama? Juvia is so sorry!" He looked up and showed a grin on his face. "Ah, don't worry, Juvia... you made a great job. Now we're over the barrier." _Gray-sama praised Juvia! Juvia is happy...!_ She smiled back and gave him a hand to stand up.  
"Look, we're almost there!" he said, pointing at a door behind the girl. "I can feel it, it's the last one." "Yeah" she smiled, approaching to the door to read the inscription on it. 'The next room is the Dream Room. You can open this door, once you have taken stock of the situation you're in.'  
"Well, this situation can only be described as crazy! Do we even need to take stock?" Gray tried to curtail. But Juvia had got it right this time too. "Wait, Gray-sama. This is not a stupid rule. We can take this chance to put together all we know about the Runes Master, as we're about to face him." "Uh, you're right... well, what kind of runes can he make? They're different from Fried's."  
"He can both create simple "magic walls" or "magic boxes". And he can put them where he wants, as there was one on a window outside..." she slightly blushed remembering that moment.  
"Exactly. The "magic walls", or barriers, don't disappear after someone got through them, while the "boxes" disappear once all the persons trapped inside have complied with the rule."  
"That means that the barriers are somewhat stronger. And as we've seen, he can put a timer on his traps. And he can also make the rule change, depending on the number of the persons inside the trap."  
"That's right. And I think that's what happened earlier, when we switched our bodies. That guy must have got through that door too, but if he was alone his rule must have been different from ours."  
"Yeah. So... The runes of this mage can change the physical state of the person trapped inside. Not only the switched bodies, but also the capsizing..."  
"And what about right now? This rule doesn't involve anything physical, so it can also detect thoughts and emotions, I guess."  
"Yes, it definitely can. Just think about the trap where you had to have fun to be free. Just giggling a bit wasn't enough."  
"That's kind of annoying..."  
They kept silent for a while. They had brought up all the information they got until then, and it seemed they had taken stock of the situation once and for all. The first to say it out loud was Gray. He couldn't wait to walk through that door and face the Runes Master. "Well. I think we've said everything! We've put together all we know about him." "Yes" Juvia agreed. "Though his traps are still invisible to our eyes, and we can be trapped any moment." "That's no big deal. His rules don't make us hurt, so he can't defeat us with them. His magic can be very free and varied, but our magic is stronger. I'm sure all we'll need to do is hit him just once, and we'll be done." The ice mage was very confident of his and Juvia's magic power, and in fact their strength was remarkable. But who knows if that was all the Runes Master was able to do?  
The Fairy Tail mages, however, were now both sure of what they were going to face, and the barrier in front of them let them open the door. The shiny letters now said "Welcome to the Dream Room."  
As they entered the room, the door closed behind them, but they didn't even notice. The mages gaped as they saw the inside of that last room.


	9. The Dream Room

**Chapter 9 - The Dream Room**

It wasn't even a room. Such a big space couldn't possibly be called a simple 'room'. From the outside of the building, the two mages had seen that it was a huge one, but that room they were in now seemed to be even bigger than the building itself. But the stunning thing wasn't the size; that place contained... everything.  
The walls were enormous, and a huge bookshelf covered entirely one of them. It was full of books, of any kind. Near the bookshelf, musical instruments were neatly placed; any kind of musical instrument. In a corner there was a kitchen, with no walls surrounding it but all the proper furniture. Near it there was something that looked like a refrigerator, but it was like ten times bigger than usual. It probably contained an incredible amount of food. Then there was a sport section, with balls, rackets, nets and lots of other equipments. An area of the room was devoted to weapons, like fire-arms, blades and other ones that the two mages had never even seen. White canvas and any possible tool to draw on them were placed in another corner of the room, in front of a big mirror. Sewing tools were also there, on a small table surrounded by armchairs. There was even a camping tent and a big double bed. Next to it, a huge wardrobe largely covered the wall, it must have been full of clothes, any possible kind of clothes.  
Lots of other things were there; the two mages, astonished, just couldn't make out all of them.  
"Where... Where are we?" Gray said, breathless. "There's anything you could think of, here." Juvia stated, not able to say anything less obvious. "Juvia thinks we should... take a look around..." "That doesn't sound bad." They were both like hypnotized, and started exploring the place.  
Juvia opened a door of the wardrobe, and lost herself in the pile of clothes that she found. There were even wigs, hairpins and hair bands of any kind, and strange costumes. "Erza-san would love a wardrobe like this. Though she probably already has one."  
Meanwhile, Gray sneaked to the musical instruments. It had always been a curiosity of his to try a guitar, though he didn't really know how to play it. He picked up an acoustic, blue guitar, and held it as if he was to play. He smiled on his own, realizing that some of the books that were there probably taught how to use it; but that wasn't exactly the right occasion. _I'm here for another reason..._  
"Aw, Gray-sama! That really suits you!" Juvia's excited voice behind him startled the black-haired boy. He turned round blushing and said: "Ah, uhm, though I really can't pl-What are you wearing?!" He gave the girl a surprised look as he saw her. "Uh, well, there was a changing room there, and all those clothes... Juvia wanted to try something on..."  
She was wearing a tight and revealing pink shirt, with matching long gloves; on the bottom, a white miniskirt and white high-heeled boots, with coffee-colored tights. On top of that, she had replaced her usual Cossack hat with a tiny and merely esthetic top hat, like the one her Edolas counterpart wore. Gray couldn't deny that that outfit was quite sexy and alluring, but it looked kind of wrong on Juvia. That's why he was surprised when he saw her dressed like that.  
"Does Gray-sama like this outfit on Juvia? Does it suit her?" she asked, trying to hide her embarrassment. _Honestly, Juvia doesn't like this kind of clothes... it looks like Lucy's. But if this is what Gray-sama likes she'll change her mind..._ As a matter of fact, Juvia's intention was to 'test' Gray and see if her feeling of him liking the blonde mage was true.  
She couldn't be happier about his answer. "Uhm, actually..." he began, kind of embarrassed. "You look... nice, but... Er, you're not yourself like this." _Did I just compliment her?_ Juvia blushed, happy and a bit confused at the same time. "Juvia is not... herself?" Gray approached her and quickly found her usual clothes, laid inside the changing room. He took her hat and put it back on her head, replacing the little top hat. "You look more natural like this. And with your own clothes." He showed a shy smile, not knowing why he had done and said that. What's more, he still had the guitar hung on his shoulders, and he began feeling kind of stupid so he took it off. "I think I should also not 'wear' strange things which don't suit me..." he said with a nervous giggle. Juvia smiled back, extremely relieved. "Juvia will put her own clothes back on, then. But Gray-sama looked really good with a guitar. You should try and learn to play" the blue-haired girl said, closing the changing room curtain to change. "You think so? Maybe I'll think about it..." Gray replied, laying the guitar against the wardrobe and looking around.  
He started rummaging around in a big box full of swords and other sharp weapons. "Gray-sama, you should put your clothes back on too!" she squealed as she got out of the changing room. "What?! Oh damn!" he swore as he realized all he'd got left on was his underwear. "And where the hell did I leave my clothes now?" Juvia giggled as she noticed his shirt near the musical instruments, his trousers not far from the weapons box and his shoes near the entrance. "It's normal to get distracted in here, isn't it?" she said, amused.  
As they recollected his pieces of clothing, they continued exploring the room. They spent more than an hour leafing through the books, playing around with the several tools and equipments they found, taking bites at some of the food in the kitchen, trying on all the things that caught their attention. It felt like being in Pleasure Island.  
Then Juvia popped out of a pile of cotton wool and colored fabric (with which she was sewing some Gray dolls to replace the ones she'd lost) and shouted out: "Gray-sama! We're not supposed to be doing this!" He dropped the bowling balls he was holding in both hands (trying to have two strikes at once), and they made a loud thud as they reached the floor. "Damn, you're right! We're wasting time, we should go and face the Runes Master!" he replied, upset. "But... where is he?"  
He wasn't there. They hadn't realized it until now, but in that enormous room there was nobody but them. "We were sure he would be in here, but actually he's not... I got carried away too much, what an idiot." Gray said, angry at himself. "It's not your fault, Gray-sama! Juvia was also distracted. But now we can go on with our mission. Look over there, it's a door." She pointed at a door which was almost invisible, as it was the exact same color of the wall. "It must be our next, and hopefully our last, goal."  
Like the previous ones, that door had a sign on it. The most troubling of all.  
'You're in the Dream Room. This is the way out. Make the dream you share come true and you'll be allowed to pass through this door.'  
"What does he mean with 'the dream you share'?" Gray asked nervously, after reading the rule. Juvia's voice was trembling as she answered. "It means that... we should fulfill a dream that we both have..."


	10. Our dream

**Chapter 10 - Our dream**

The moments that followed were of deep silence between the two mages. They were both thinking deeply about the meaning of that rule. It was kind of easy to think of your own wish, and in a room like that it was probably easy to make it true, too. But they had to think of a shared dream, one that both Juvia and Gray had. And they were both having a hard time imagining what the other one could dream of. They started walking around in the huge room, randomly looking at things hoping to have a good idea. They did not dare talk to each other, for some reason.  
Juvia was silent because she perfectly knew what her dream was, and since the moment she had read the sign she feared to know the truth about Gray's feelings for her. She had always tried to push him to tell her, but now that she was so close to know the truth, she was afraid. What if he disliked her after all? _Juvia has always been close to Gray-sama, cheering for him, saying nice things to him... But he never answered back... He's not the shy type, is he? He doesn't like Juvia, that's how it is... That's not the dream we share..._ She was growing sad, as she approached the bed to sit on it.  
Gray, instead, didn't say a word because he suddenly felt extremely confused about himself. The dream he had thought about before wasn't something that Juvia could want too, and by the way, he could imagine what Juvia's dream was about. That's what troubled him the most: the possibility that that could be the dream they shared. But he just couldn't make up his mind about it, he didn't understand his feelings for the girl. Or maybe he couldn't admit them.  
As he noticed that Juvia had sat down on the bed, he walked towards her and sat on an armchair in front of her. He noticed her sad look, but couldn't find the courage to ask about it.  
"Uhm... As we're supposed to find a... dream that we both have, maybe we should... uhm, talk about it?" that's how he broke the ice. Juvia startled at the sound of his voice. She looked up at him and replied: "Yes... Well, what are your dreams, Gray-sama?" He didn't expect that question all of a sudden. "Er, the truth is, I don't really have... such big dreams... I can't even think of one in particular..." "What about the one you thought about at the entrance door?" She was incredibly straightforward, despite her inner upheaval.  
"Oh, that one... Well... it's kind of stupid..." Gray said. "It can't be. Please, tell Juvia." she insisted. "I'd like to... some day... train an apprentice. That's it." he confessed with a little smile. "But it's stupid to think about that now." Juvia raised her voice, her eyes shining with admiration. "That's not stupid at all, Gray-sama! It's commendable!" He let out a little giggle. "I mean, as I am right now I'm definitely not able to train someone, I still need to learn many things." "Gray-sama is a very capable and strong mage." "But I'm far from ready to teach magic, if I want to be as good as Ur..." A shadow of sadness appeared in his eyes, but he was still smiling lightly.  
Juvia had heard of the woman who taught Gray the ice magic, and about how much he respected her. So, she understood how he must have seen her: as a mentor, and maybe also as a mother, as he had lost his own as a child. And now that he had lost Ur too, all he got left was her teaching, so it was understandable for him to want to pass on that teaching and also her memory. And Gray being Gray, he wanted that to be done properly.  
Juvia looked him right in the eyes, an encouraging smile showing upon her face. "You're doing really good. And it's not only about magic. You're also a kind and emotionally strong mage. Those are important qualities for a good trainer." Gray raised his look, not sure how to react to those words. "Juvia thinks that Ur-sama would be proud of you." she added. He looked somewhere else, a nervous smile on his face, and murmured: "Thank you... But I'm not really..." _... that strong, emotionally. I can't even finish my own sentence, tch._  
"What about yours?" he tried to change the subject, without thinking. "Juvia's... dream...?" she blushed, surprised by the sudden and unexpected question. She didn't know that it was unexpected for Gray as well. _Why did I ask her?! As if I didn't know... I'm just bothering her._ "Well... Juvia's dream..." she hesitated. "Juvia wishes it was something that we could share." she said, looking sad again. "But probably not."  
Gray was growing frustrated, and her companion's words weren't helping solving his trouble. They gave him even more to think about. He rested his head on his hands, trying to keep up with the amount of thoughts and sensations crowding his mind.  
He was seeing Ur, the light of hope she had given him after he had lost his parents. Every child had a mother and a father, but he lacked that reference because of Zeref's evil demon. And Ur had come to save him from his nightmare. She even gave away her human life to protect him, so he had lost her too. Once again, he had lost someone he deeply cared about. Let's say, someone he loved. Since then, no such bonds were ever born again between Gray and someone else. Of course, Fairy Tail became his family and his guild mates became like brothers and sisters. But it wasn't the same, he saw them as nakama, they worked and shared moments and memories together, but none of them was such an important presence in his life as the one of those he had lost. That is why he never thought about love, nor about looking for someone special and things like that. _I had someone special, once. Now they're all gone, so... that's it. Don't know if it's me or it's just destiny, but I can't care that much about someone if I'm going to lose that person in no time._ Not only his magic, but also his heart had slowly become of ice.  
"Gray-sama?"  
The water mage was looking at him worriedly.  
_Her._ It was her who had instilled a doubt in his icy heart, and was slowly, gradually melting it. Her, with her obsession, her over-protectiveness, her frenzy, her supporting smiles, her shyness. Her love.  
Gray was finally starting to understand. No matter what he'd do to keep Juvia away, she would still be there for him, and come closer, because she cared about him that much. She was there to give him all she had for him, and that was her love. He was her reason to live. _And she... Juvia is..._ He couldn't deny it. Not anymore. He liked her attentions for him. He cared about her, a lot. A lot more than he expected, and now he couldn't repress that feeling anymore. He understood how useless it was to repress it, for both of them. What's more, the fear of losing someone loved wasn't a good reason to leave the poor girl alone with her unanswered love. _I'm ridiculous! Fear of losing her? Maybe, when I was little it was true. I lost my loved ones in front of my eyes, not being able to do anything to stop that. But now I'm a mage! I'm a Fairy Tail mage, dammit! If I care about someone, I will protect them! I will protect... her... Just like she's been doing for all this time... While I was just too stubborn to... to..._  
He stood up. He took the few steps that separated him from Juvia - and in the meantime, unconsciously took off his shirt and threw it on the bed. As soon as she raised her head to look at him, still worried for his silence and sudden action, he touched her cheeks with both hands and roughly pressed his lips against hers. Juvia's heart skipped a beat. The kiss soon became sweeter and smoother, as they both started to feel more at ease and enjoy the moment. Not to mention that Juvia couldn't believe that it was truly happening. She thought, for a moment, that she would faint from happiness, but she didn't. Instead, her eyes became watery and some tears fell down, reaching Gray's fingers. As he noticed, he stopped kissing her and said, with a slightly trembling voice: "Juvia... Why are you... Damn, I'm sorry..." That completely new thing was starting to overwhelm him, and he didn't even know what to say sorry for. _There must be countless reasons why I should feel sorry..._  
Juvia couldn't stop the tears, but she gave him the sweetest smile she had. "No, these... these are tears of joy... Juvia is so happy... It feels like seeing the sun for the first time, again... And it's always thanks to Gray-sama..." As she spoke, she put her hand on Gray's neck, and took the initiative for a new kiss.  
Gray was feeling like he had finally reached something that had been missing in his life until that moment. He felt relieved, excited, happy and fulfilled. _I shouldn't have kept her away for all this time._ He interrupted again to talk: "Juvia, forgive me... Until now, I haven't... I have always... Right now, I see that... You..." He frowned, frustrated for not being able to say what he had in mind.  
"Gray-sama. Juvia understands." she smiled, her forehead touching his. "Words are not necessary right now." He smiled back, and caressed her blue hair while he placed his right hand on the bed, to lean against it as he started a new, bolder kiss.  
They soon ended up lying on the bed, embracing each other as to make up for the chances they had lost to do it in the past. Gray looked a bit sheepish sometimes, but he was enjoying the moment like nothing that had happened before. He could feel Juvia's lips, her skin, her scent that he had never really noticed until then. He couldn't stop touching her long, silky hair. Juvia's hands were gently running from his hair, to his shoulders, to his bare chest, to his back. She had dreamed of that moment for countless nights and days, and even now she felt like dreaming. But this time it was real, she could feel everything with unmistakable clearness and intensity and she wanted that moment to last forever. They were just kissing and hugging, but it felt like the most beautiful and romantic sensation ever.  
Several minutes passed, but the two mages didn't notice the flow of time. They even forgot, for a while, where they were. All they could see and feel was each other.  
Gray was still on top of Juvia, and his actions became more and more firm and confident. He wasn't feeling awkward at all, despite his earlier embarrassment. His kisses grew more and more passionate. His left hand ran from Juvia's neck to her shoulder, and was slowly sliding down. She had her clothes on, but as they were very tight he could easily make up the shape of her body and feel it as if he was touching her skin. Before he could realize it, his hand had grabbed her breast.  
Juvia gave a little gasp on the spur of the moment, and clutched Gray's hand.  
"Uh... Juvia... is sorry..." she murmured, blushing like never before. She didn't know why she had stopped him; she was definitely enjoying Gray's touch. Probably her mind was still aware of where they were, and alerted her to the impropriety of going further in that situation.  
Gray soon got back to himself too, and immediately stopped touching her. "Ah! N-No, I am sorry! I was... You were..." He threw himself onto the bed, lying on his back next to the girl. He put both hands on his face, and rhetorically asked: "Have I said any full sentences since the moment I stood up from that chair?" Juvia giggled and replied: "This was the first one, Gray-sama." He put his hands away from his face, and looked at her: she was smiling brightly, and he couldn't resist but smile too. His hand searched hers; as he found her hand, he grabbed it and held it tight.  
They stayed like this for a while, silently smiling and looking each other in the eyes, holding hands.  
"Juvia's dream came true..." she whispered. In that moment, they both remembered where they were, why they were there and what they were supposed to do. "The dream! The door! Maybe now it's opened!" Gray uttered, sitting himself up.  
A bit disappointed for not being able to relax together for longer, they both got up and reached the door which kept them inside unless they had made a dream they shared come true. The two mages had silently agreed on the fact that what had happened was something that they both wanted; so, the disappointment was even worse when they found that the door was still locked.  
"What?! But... Why?" Gray punched the door with anger. Juvia, as she had done before, tried to think through it. "Gray-sama... If that wasn't your dream, what is it?" He stopped being angry at the door and turned around to look at the girl, starting to feel awkward again. _I must stop being shy, this time I gotta say everything properly! We're so close to getting out of here!_ "Well... I-I realized that I care a lot about you, so... So... Just having a cuddle on a b-bed isn't exactly what I want... With you... Uhm..." He was staring at the floor while speaking, not able to look at Juvia. He felt embarrassed like never before, but he was also feeling relieved of being able to finally open his heart (despite finding it hard to talk).  
Juvia approached him smiling, and put her hand on his arm. He finally looked at her. "Juvia wants to be Gray-sama's girl. Juvia wants to be with you, Gray-sama. Is it what you want, too?" _I even need her to speak in my place... how pathetic am I!_ He sighed and smiled. "... Yes. I also... want you to be my girl. I care about you, and I want to protect you. That is why I want to be with you." He held her in a warm and sweet hug as he spoke. In that moment, the door in front of them began shining, and the sign changed.  
'You may now proceed and go thank the Runes Master in person.'  
"So, the time has come." Juvia stated, with a little grin on her face. Gray was grinning as well. "I can't wait to thank the Runes Master." As he spoke, he hit his palm with his fist, ready to fight.


	11. The Runes Master (the End)

**Chapter 11 - The Runes Master**

Gray slammed the door open, impatient to see the mage behind all of that. Needless to say, he also couldn't wait to punch his face for all the trouble they got through because of him.  
The door closed behind the Fairy Tail mages as soon as they entered the new room, which was very small compared to the others. They immediately saw a man with long blond hair in a low pigtail, standing in front of them. He was wearing a blue cowboy hat with a feather on it, which suddenly reminded Gray of one of his strongest opponents of the Grand Magic Games.  
"Rufus?!" he shouted in surprise. "The Runes Master is the Sabertooth mage?" Juvia wondered, on her guard. The man smiled and walked slowly towards them, keeping a distance of a meter. "Oh, so you happen to know my brother?" he said with a way more high-pitched voice than his appearance suggested. Hearing that, Gray and Juvia realized that it wasn't the person they thought it was. "You're Rufus' brother? It's gonna be a pleasure to deal with you too, then." Gray smirked.  
"Don't compare me to that loser brought by misfortune! I am Darius, the elder brother, and my success is unmistakable! Just look at what I have built up with my power!" he raised his arms as to show everything around him as a proof of his words. That proved, in fact, that he was the Runes Master in person, the man who made dreams come true. But to the water and ice mages, it was the proof that he was the person they were going to defeat.  
Gray charged towards him, his anger rising up more and more. "Enough talking, you piece of shit!" His fist, though, hit an invisible wall between him and the Runes Master's face. The evil grin on the man's face grew wider, as he approached them more. "Uh, excuse me? That is not the way you are supposed to thank me, the man who made you able to realize your dreams, is it?" "It's another runes trap, Gray-sama!" Juvia shouted, finding the other three magical walls surrounding them. "Tch! You bastard..." Gray snarled, with both his fists against the barrier, an inch from Darius' face but unable to reach it. "If you're so full of yourself thinking that you made us a favor and that we're here to thank you, why did you put another trap right here?"  
"Oh, well, I'm just being cautious. You see, that trap you're in activates only if I want it. It does not have any particular rule, it disappears if I stop the magic that keeps it up. Otherwise, it stays where it is." Darius explained, walking around them as though they were some test subjects in a cage. "By the way, I'm really curious to know your story. You guys are the first to come till here and, well... finding a blushing girl and a half-naked boy truly stimulates my interest." Gray hadn't realized he had been without his shirt ever since... "Wha- when did it happen?!" "T-The bed, Gray-sama..." Juvia reminded him shily, blushing more and more. This time it was the two of them who were uncontrollably blushing, much to Darius' enjoyment. "I was right then, so your shared dream was to lose your-" "YOU WERE RIGHT MY ASS! You know nothing, don't jump to conclusions and now let me kick your face!" Gray interrupted the mage and lost his mind, as he started to punch the magic barrier with all his strenght. As for Juvia, she wasn't very lucid herself, and embarrassment took over her. "We-we're not at that stage of our relationship yet!" she shouted as she used her magic to throw water blades towards their opponent. Unfortunately, the barrier reflected her attack and the water hit Gray and herself, though she obviously wasn't harmed by her own attack. The only 'damage' she got was to have her hat thrown some meters away. "Oh no! Juvia is so sorry, Gray-sama!"  
Darius' face was now showing surprise. "You are mages? Oh I see... that is how you managed to come till here..." In that moment, a hidden door behind him opened and another man, a skinny and bald one, entered the room holding a big painting in his arms. "Master, the guy that came here this morning had this incredibly valuable painting in his living room! Can you believe it, it's been so easy to get it! Shall I put it in the Dream Room with the other stuff?" Darius glared at him, making clear that he disapproved his presence there in that moment. It didn't take long to the Fairy Tail mages to understand what was actually going on. "You! You're burglars! All the stuff that's in this room behind us... is stolen!" Juvia uttered. "And you take advantage of the people coming here and falling in your traps to steal in their houses in a more comfortable way, don't you?!" Gray continued, seething with anger.  
Darius turned towards them again, the grin came back on his face. "Well, no need to hide it anymore. It's a mercenary guild I've built up here, under everyone's eyes, and nobody would notice a thing because they think it's some kind of funny game! Ha ha ha ha!" he declared laughing with a mad expression on his face. "You know, usually I let people get out after some time if they can not get out of the traps, but I will make an exception for you two." he continued with a calmer tone. "You are mages after all. And you had the honor to hear the whole truth about this place. As a reward, you will be able to spend the rest of your life here! What do you think of this?"  
The young mages didn't actually trust his words, he was probably planning to make them harmless, if not kill them, or use them at his advantage someway. But they weren't scared at all. They knew there must have been a way to get out of that trap and knock him down.  
In the meantime, the bald man had approached them and had taken Juvia's hat up from the ground. "This also looks kinda valuable" he commented. "It looks like the ones there were in the closet of the dorm apartment we robbed last night." "Yeah, well, do whatever you like, just get out of here." Darius gestured him to get away.  
The man's words echoed in Juvia's mind. _It was THEM who stole Juvia's things!_ Gray looked at her and understood her thoughts. But also, he had noticed something else. _Juvia's hat is out of the barrier, but she wasn't able to attack with her water magic. Maybe this trap..._ Without saying a word, he unbuttoned his trousers and took them off. Both Juvia and the Runes Master stared at him in astonishment. "G-Gray-sama, why now?!" "What is it, you want to entertain me with a striptease? You know, I am not that kind of person." Darius smirked. Gray replied with a grin, as he threw his trousers on the mage's face. "That's my line! And by the way... you're going down, Runes Master!"  
Gray's right fist hit his left palm, as he gathered magic power. "Ice make: hammer!" A giant ice hammer appeared above him, and went down on Darius' head just as he got rid of Gray's clothes which had blinded him for a while.  
To the mages' surprise, that single attack was a knockout: the Runes Master wasn't able to move anymore, and the barrier that trapped them disappeared. "He's already KO?" Juvia exclaimed. "Tch! What a loser! Acting all mighty and powerful, when the only thing that he can do pretty well is handle his magic! In fact, he has no physical strength." Gray mocked him while putting his trousers back on. "But... how come that Juvia's magic didn't work, and Gray-sama's did?" Juvia asked. "That barrier trapped our bodies, that's why. Your body is made of water, that you use for your magic. So the magic walls didn't let it out. But my alchemical magic creates something new, that doesn't come from my body, so... like your hat, my creation was able to come out of the trap." "Oh, that's it... it was pretty simple, after all" Juvia commented. "If you say it like that it doesn't sound like I had a brainwave..." Gray murmured, acting depressed for a moment.  
"Anyway, as this damn guy is unconscious now, all his traps must have disappeared, like the one we were in! Now we can explore this place and find the mercenaries!" "Yes! Let's go, Gray-sama!"

The moments that followed were very much Fairy Tail-like, with loud noises of walls crashing down and people screaming in pain, as the two mages fought against every mercenary they found in the hidden rooms of the huge building they were in. In the end, only the Dream Room and a few others were still undamaged. Some Kingdom Knights were called for help, and so all the mercenaries were arrested and the stolen objects came back to their owners, though that took a lot more time. Juvia was so happy to have her handmade Gray dolls back.  
One of the Knights approached them and handed them an envelope. "Thank you for taking on this mission, Fairy Tail. This is your reward. Though, let me say this... you were lucky this wasn't an officially acknowledged building, otherwise you would have had to pay for the damage you caused to it." "Uh... we sure were lucky, yes... Thank you very much." Gray smiled nervously.  
Then he gave Juvia the envelope, as they started walking back to the guild. It was evening already. "Here. This is yours."  
"Ah, but Gray-sama, this isn't necessary anymore! Juvia found everything that was stolen from her apartment, so you should keep your half!"  
"But..." he protested, though he didn't know how to respond to that. He just somehow felt like he wanted to give Juvia something.  
"It's fine like this! It's not like you promised Juvia money or anything." she smiled. "And by the way, Juvia got something a million times more valuable than money." her hand touched his and grabbed it as they walked.  
Gray blushed, still not having realized that, in fact, they were now a couple.  
"Th-then why not... uhm... how do I put it... L-let's go out... I'll treat you for dinner... A-and I won't accept a 'no' as an answer!" he stammered, holding her hand in turn.  
That last part, however, didn't really need to be said. Juvia squealed in joy and clung to his arm, replying with a dreamy voice: "Juvia will never say 'no' to her boyfriend... Gray-sama..."

...

Later that evening, Cana was sitting at an empty table of her favorite pub, drinking the umpteenth glass of wine. She had been waiting for a certain boy to turn up, but she soon understood that she had been blown out. "Ah, these youngsters who don't know how to handle women... and alcohol." she talked to herself, giggling. _But... those two... Isn't that Gray? And he's with Juvia... Well well well, they definitely look more intimate than usual..._ "Oi, barman. Bring those two a couple of these drinks, will you? I pay for them. Don't let them know it's me who offered." she winked, as if it wasn't the first time she did something like that.  
_And now, let the show begin..._ she sat in a more comfortable position, as she hid her face with her hands and hair not to let them notice her. Then she giggled non-stop when a funny and lovely scene took place in front of her: Juvia had given in to the alcohol effect and had started to rub herself against Gray, as the ice maker was feeling dizzy but didn't want to act so intimate in public and was trying to stop her. It was obvious, though, that he didn't dislike his girlfriend's cuddles.

_**To be continued...**__  
In your imagination ;)_


End file.
